In China, a new slogan dominates the start of the school year: “Common prosperity. “ Of course, it emanates from Xi Jinping, the all-powerful secretary general of the Communist Party (CCP), whose little schoolchildren across the country will now have the pleasure of studying “thought” during their studies.
The expression first appeared on August 17, following a meeting of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs. “Common prosperity is an essential requirement of socialism and a key component of modernization with Chinese characteristics”, Xi Jinping said, according to the official report. Two words that perhaps mark the end of an era.
For about forty years, Deng Xiaoping has been credited with the following sentence: “Getting rich is glorious. “ In fact, Mao’s successor simply said that “Getting rich is not a sin”, but whatever. Thanks to his policy, the Chinese went, in a generation, from the bowl of rice to the Vuitton bags. Well almost. Because, obviously, not all have had access to the same social elevator. Deng Xiaoping assumed it. It is necessary “Let some people get rich first”, did he declare.
Result: forty years later, the country has become almost as unequal as the United States. It has, in any case, many more billionaires. According to the annual Credit Suisse study, the richest 1% of Chinese own 30.6% of the national wealth. An increase of 10 points in twenty years. And it did not start to stop. According to the forecasts of the banking establishment, the number of millionaires should increase by 92% in the next five years. A world record. Yet at the same time, according to Premier Li Keqiang, 600 million Chinese live on less than 130 euros per month.
“Distribute the cake more evenly”
In short, China clearly has an income redistribution problem. The legitimacy of the CCP is at stake. The official China New Agency concedes it half-heartedly: “Properly managing the relationship between efficiency and equity, increasing the size of the middle class, increasing the incomes of the poorest and adjusting excess incomes”, common prosperity aims to “Strengthen the foundation of long-term governance of the party”, she explains.
“We can empower people and then guide them to help others get rich (…) We can help the wealthy entrepreneurs who work hard, legally, and who took risks to start their business, but we must also do our best to put in place a system of “scientific” public policy that allows distribution of fairer income ”, Xi Jinping would have specified.
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